It is very important for a services website to have their business's address so that potential clients can find them easily. It is extremely irritating if this information is not given in the right way and may result into lost customer.
Following are some common mistakes designer commit while providing this information on websites:
Information is Hidden: For businesses like restaurants/clinics/salons, one of the most important pieces of information is their location. Users expect this information available on the website in big bold letters. It is very irritating when you have to click on "About Us" or "Find Us" links to find their address.
For example: http://www.dilettante.com/ - see the image below. You will have to click on "Contact Us" to see address of Dilettante cafes!
Inaccessible Information: Having address information in obvious location is certainly a step forward but is of limited use if information is not accessible. It is amazing to see how many websites are using images for their address. This makes it terrible because you can see the address but if you want to copy paste it in maps website/app, you can't do it. You have to memorize the address or switch between tabs to enter that address in that map app.
For example: http://www.eyesonthecity.com/ - address is right there on their home page, but is not selectable. Its an IMAGE!
Inflexible: Some websites try to do the smart thing by having maps widget on their webpage with a pin pointing to their location. Yes, sometimes it is a better experience to see the location on map than just seeing the address text/image. But you have to maintain the consistency with the maps widget and/or give a link to map's website where they can perform all the operations they are used to on that maps website. Common issues I have seen with such widgets are:
Unreliable: WORST thing you can do with this kind of information is to give the wrong/out-dated information. It is not a design issue but still worth mentioning in this blog. I have encountered few websites off late which says that they are open from x:00 am to y:00 pm mon-sat and when you go to their location, they have either moved to some other location or have decided to change their timings or are simply closed permanently! Other than any issue mentioned in this blog, this issue hurts the brand most.
It is hard to gain trust of your users, very easy to lose it and next to impossible to regain it.
I hope you find this information useful and consider these points while designing a website for your cafe, salon, restaurant or bar!
Following are some common mistakes designer commit while providing this information on websites:
Information is Hidden: For businesses like restaurants/clinics/salons, one of the most important pieces of information is their location. Users expect this information available on the website in big bold letters. It is very irritating when you have to click on "About Us" or "Find Us" links to find their address.
For example: http://www.dilettante.com/ - see the image below. You will have to click on "Contact Us" to see address of Dilettante cafes!
Inaccessible Information: Having address information in obvious location is certainly a step forward but is of limited use if information is not accessible. It is amazing to see how many websites are using images for their address. This makes it terrible because you can see the address but if you want to copy paste it in maps website/app, you can't do it. You have to memorize the address or switch between tabs to enter that address in that map app.
For example: http://www.eyesonthecity.com/ - address is right there on their home page, but is not selectable. Its an IMAGE!
Inflexible: Some websites try to do the smart thing by having maps widget on their webpage with a pin pointing to their location. Yes, sometimes it is a better experience to see the location on map than just seeing the address text/image. But you have to maintain the consistency with the maps widget and/or give a link to map's website where they can perform all the operations they are used to on that maps website. Common issues I have seen with such widgets are:
- clicking on pin has no effect. No information balloon is shown when you click on the red pin. (users expect that)
- there are no zoom-in or zoom-out controllers. (users are used to these controls on any map now)
- there is no "Directions" link from that pin. (this would make it so much more easier for users to reach to you)
- there is no way to switch from satellite view of the map which they usually default to.
- worst is when websites are just capturing screenshot of the maps website and their pin and put that as an image on their website. In such cases, it is better just not to have anything at all!
Unreliable: WORST thing you can do with this kind of information is to give the wrong/out-dated information. It is not a design issue but still worth mentioning in this blog. I have encountered few websites off late which says that they are open from x:00 am to y:00 pm mon-sat and when you go to their location, they have either moved to some other location or have decided to change their timings or are simply closed permanently! Other than any issue mentioned in this blog, this issue hurts the brand most.
It is hard to gain trust of your users, very easy to lose it and next to impossible to regain it.
I hope you find this information useful and consider these points while designing a website for your cafe, salon, restaurant or bar!
2 comments:
What is really surprising is no good use of google maps. Most of the people have smartphones probably with GPS and/or A-GPS. Wouldn't it be easy if I could simply enter easily memorable co-ordinates in the maps and it shows me where the address is? Businesses or people could simply start mentioning those co-ordinates and there you go!!
This would be so handy in many areas...
That is really a good point Mandar. I would love to have a service which will return me a map location for easily remembered string like "goodLuckPune".
In current scenario, I don't like to go through the list of result and then click on the location I am interested in.
Pretty much like toll free numbers:
1-800-ICICI-B :)
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